1/ The Supreme Court – again – refused to block the Texas law that bans most abortions in the state after six weeks, but agreed to hear legal arguments over the nation’s most restrictive abortion law on Nov. 1. The court said it would focus specifically on whether the federal government has the authority to challenge the unusual way in which the Texas legislature crafted the law, which deputizes private individuals to sue anyone who performs the procedure or “aids and abets” it. The court, however, turned down a request from Texas to use the cases to decide whether to overturn the right to abortion established in 1973 in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision legalizing abortion nationwide prior to viability, generally thought to be around 22 to 24 weeks. In December, the court will also consider a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks. Mississippi is explicitly asking the court to overturn Roe. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2021/10/22/day-276/